Looking much like the real whales this area is known for, a new visitor center will rise from the tip of a Norwegian island 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle. “The Whale” by architecture firm Dorte Mandrup aims to be an unobtrusive addition to the setting while also drawing even more visitors to the remote area of Andøya, a prime whale-watching destination.

“The new Arctic attraction, The Whale, tells the story of the big inhabitants of this underwater world, rising as a soft hill on the rocky shore – as if a giant had lifted a thin layer of the crust of the earth and created a cavity underneath,” say the architects.

“A single curved concrete shell makes up the roof of The Whale. This parabolic form effectively transmits the forces to three support points in the corners of the building, creating a large, inner column-free room.”

The “whale tail” effect is only visible from a certain angle, but it’s still pretty cool, and the structure’s low-lying form is meant to help human visitors maintain a minimal impact on the area (though ecotourism remains controversial, as some say it’s having a negative impact and others say it helps raise crucial funds and awareness for affected species.) Other popular activities in Andenes include taking in the northern lights, exploring fjords, hiking, fossil hunting and berry picking.

The design beat out stiff competition from the likes of Snøhetta, Reiulf Ramstad and Bjarke Ingels Group, chosen for its combination of creativity and respect for the natural environment. You can see all of the proposals at The Whale’s website and judge for yourself.

A stunning rock formation in Malta known as the Azure Window drew visitors from around the world until its collapse in a storm in early 2017, but it could be reborn in an unexpected way. In collaboration with Elena Britanishskaya, architect Svetozar Andreev proposes transforming the site of the fallen landmark into a new exhibition space, mimicking the size and shape of the original using mirrored steel faces. The project, entitled ‘Heart of Malta,’ aims to retain the location as a primary tourist draw and use it as an opportunity to educate visitors on the history of the island nation in the central Mediterranean Sea.

Standing nearly 92 feet tall (28 meters), the abstracted form of the new structure offers more than 53,000 square feet (5,000 square meters) of space spread over five spiraling floors. Each spiral step represents 1,000 years of Maltese history, and the exhibition hall itself showcases everything from traditional shipbuilding methods and materials to cutting-edge modern architectural techniques.

Just like the arch, the building stretches out from the land, connected by a narrow bridge. The top remains a prime overlook to gaze out onto the beautiful seaside landscape of Dwejra, and visitors descend into the exhibition spaces via ramp. An online poll in MaltaToday found that 68 percent of readers were in favor of making the proposal a reality, says Andreev.

“It will be a perfect monument and symbol of the fusion of modernity and nature, of time and history, and a testament to the tenacity of the human spirit.”

106 vertical concrete tubes making up a massive disused grain silo in Cape Town, South Africa are sliced and carved from the inside out to produce cathedral-like spaces in this incredible transformation. Architect Thomas Heatherwick and his firm contrasted the cold, aging industrial appearance of the complex with faceted glass and organic shapes for a futuristic looking result, a fittingly monumental setting for the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA), the world’s largest museum dedicated to African contemporary art.

The silo once stood as a symbol of economic progress in 20th century Cape Town, but as the world around it changed, it was abandoned. Sitting empty since the 1990s, the silo had become a bit of an eyesore, especially as the waterfront around it modernized, but remained historically important. Heatherwick’s project creates 6,000 square meters ((64,583 square feet) of exhibition space in a total of 80 individual galleries along with a rooftop garden, book store, restaurant, bar and conservation laboratories.

“We were excited by this opportunity to unlock this formerly dead structure and transform it into somewhere for people to see and enjoy the most incredible artworks from the continent of Africa,” says Heatherwick. “The technical challenge was to find a way to carve out spaces and galleries from the ten-story high tubular honeycomb without completely destroying the authenticity of the original building.”

‘Tubular honeycomb’ is a good way to describe it. The interior photos reveal voids carefully carved out of the bases of the concrete tubes, revealing their geometries in whole new ways. Some of these tubes act as skylights, while others hold glass elevators or spiraling staircases. The museum stands as an awe-inspiring example of how adaptive reuse can reveal qualities you might never have expected in existing structures.

Simultaneously airy and solid, ‘Kaap Skil’ by Mecanoo Architects is a new maritime and beachcombers museum  on a Dutch island accessible only by plane, boat or ferry. The building features a slatted wooden facade that resembles driftwood, and has a distinctive four-gabled-roof that mimics the shapes of the village that surrounds it, as well as the waves on the ocean.

The rustic look of the wood isn’t artificial; the facade was made of reclaimed pilings that once stood in the North Holland Canal. This creative reuse not only makes reference once again to the building’s surroundings, but continues a long-standing tradition in the area to recycle wood from shipwrecks and other sources when creating new structures.

Just inside that facade are glass walls that flood the interior with daylight and afford nearly uninterrupted views of the island of Texel and the village of Oudeschild. From afar, this combination makes the building seem like a mirage. The facade provides privacy and acts as a shade from the harsh sunlight. The gabled shape of the roof calls to mind Glasgow’s Riverside Museum by Zaha Hadid.

The museum, which is dedicated to the area’s maritime history as a popular holdover spot for the Dutch East India Company, holds two exhibition spaces, a restaurant and a retail shop.

A cluster of organic shapes that look almost biological in nature, these bold white volumes will soon be the home of a new Comic and Animation Museum in Hangzhou, China. Dutch design firm MVRDV won a competition to design the museum with this unusual approach, featuring a spiraling interior that highlights decades of cartoon history.

The rounded shapes of the structure, which reach down to the ground on tapered ‘legs’, are no accident: they were designed to resemble the speech bubbles that are so familiar to comic book fans. Each ‘bubble’ in the design will house a different function of the museum, including two exhibition spaces that will project animations onto the curved interior wall.

Visitors will meander through a high-ceilinged space on raised platforms and walkways, gazing up at massive replicas of comic book characters and other oversized displays and then spiraling up along the walls into a comic book library, open to the main chamber. Where ‘bubbles’ connect, internal openings are created, which not only provide a means to get from one area to another, but also a look into the adjoining space.

The museum will feature a cinema and a roof terrace restaurant. The complex will also include a series of parks on islands in White Horse Lake with a public plaza and an expo center which will house the annual China International Comic and Animation Festival. Construction on the Comic and Animation Museum will begin in 2012.